Home loans and SME credit part of bank’s €200m Irish expansion plan. A major German community-oriented bank that wants to bring its model to Ireland believes it could play a role in solving the housing crisis. Sparkasse, the biggest bank in Germany, wants to create an alternative to the major commercial banks, particularly in regional towns. The European Investment Bank has indicated support for the €200m project, said Sparkasse. That support is conditional on the proposal receiving political backing in… (Continua a leggere)

Government will help foreign firms gain access to world’s 2nd-largest economy China will further lower market access thresholds in areas like the banking and securities industry and expand the early negative list for management to attract more foreign investments, the State Council said on Wednesday. A notice on the issue was signed by Premier Li Keqiang and disclosed on Wednesday. It aims to promote steady growth of foreign investment in China’s pursuit of having a more inviting business environment. The… (Continua a leggere)

Cryptocurrencies are no different from their physical counterparts: Both can withstand a so-called hard fork. Over the last week, the price of Bitcoin crashed from around $2,400 to $1,800 on fears of a so-called hard fork, which is to say the digital currency would effectively split in two due to software upgrades at the end of the month that would create competing marketplaces. Potential and actual forks have roiled cryptocurrency prices regularly since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2009. The… (Continua a leggere)

CHINA AND JAPAN’S CRYPTO CRAZE The age of cryptocurrencies is upon us, and two countries in particular have been instrumental in their stratospheric rise: China and Japan. Cryptocurrencies have become popular in China due to the government’s stringent control of the yuan — a power they occasionally exercise by artificially devaluing the currency for trading purposes. With private wealth in China growing, affluent individuals have found a more stable and accessible alternative to the yuan in cryptocurrencies. Additionally, China has an abundance of cheap… (Continua a leggere)

Russia has finished building an alternative inter-bank payment system that could function if the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is shut down in Russia, local media reported Friday. There were threats that we can be disconnected from SWIFT, Russia Today cited Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina as saying. “And if something happens, all operations in SWIFT format will work inside the country. We have created a substitute,” said Nabiullina. Some 330 Russian banks have been connected to the… (Continua a leggere)

La Riflessione

You’ve probably heard of foreign businesspeople who have had great success in Japan, such as Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman of Nissan Motor. But you might not know about an American investor who has played a key role in advising the Japanese government on reforming the corporate sector. In July 2014, Scott Callon, CEO of Ichigo Asset Management, received a call from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) and was summoned for a meeting. Callon was filled with anxiety. After all,… (Continua a leggere)